Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Pretzel Bread Boat

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Pretzel Bread Boat - made November 22, 2014

Since I eat breakfast, lunch and most dinners at work, I've fallen out of the practice of cooking for myself on the weekends. Usually it's not a problem as I typically meet friends for lunch or dinner then or am out running errands and will grab something while I'm out. But I was out one Saturday picking up a few things at Trader Joe's (hello, cookie butter, come with me) and passed a display that held individual-size pretzel "rolls". I'd never heard of them or seen them before but I was reminded of the sausage, egg and cheese "boat" I saw once on pinterest that I had wanted to try. Those boats used long baguette-style sourdough bread loaves but these pretzel rolls seemed like a good size for a 1-person meal so I decided to try them.

I've made real pretzels before, real meaning I was taught by a German master baker who'd started his apprenticeship in Germany at the age of 16 and we all know no one makes pretzels like the Germans. We would dip the pretzel dough into lye to form that outer crust that is only claimed by real pretzels; Auntie Anne would flee in shame next to a German pretzel. I tend to avoid pretzel rolls, thinking their outer crust would be too hard and chewy and that the inside would be dry. Besides, I preferred challah as my carb Kryptonite. But again, the size and shape of this roll seemed perfect for my cooking experiment. Everything I cook is an experiment, btw.

I made up this recipe and it isn't that complicated. Whisk an egg with a little milk and some cheese, grind a little salt and pepper into it, hollow out the roll, line the hollow with cooked sausage chunks and fill in with the egg mixture. Then bake until egg is cooked and roll is heated through. This actually turned out pretty well, color me surprised. I think I would use less milk and cheese and keep it more eggy next time though. I was happiest with the pretzel bread. I ate the part I had hollowed out of the roll and it had the soft texture of challah; it wasn't dry at all. The pretzel roll also has the advantage over a sourdough boule or batard because the baking time didn't make it as hard or crusty as the other bread rolls would've gotten. I might have to buy myself a few more of these rolls for the weekends.

I also think these would make handy little quick and easy breakfasts over the holidays as you only need buy as many rolls as you have people to feed, the egg custard takes a minute to whip up (and only that long if you're moving slowly) and 10-15 minutes in the oven. No fuss and they're delicious.

1 individual-size Pretzel bread (I got mine from Trader Joe's, they're about the size of a chubby hot dog bun)
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 sausage, cooked, chopped into chunks
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk egg, milk, cheeses and sausage together.
3. Hollow out the center of a mini loaf of pretzel bread. Pour the egg and sausage mixture into the center until almost but not quite overflowing.
4. Bake until egg is set, cheese is melted and "boat" is heated through, about 10-15 minutes.